Big third quarter by no. 24 Oxy is too much for Panthers

ORANGE, Calif. - Several mistakes and missed opportunities proved to be too much to overcome for the Chapman University football team as the Panthers lost 31-28 to No. 24 ranked and unbeaten Occidental College Saturday night at Wilson Field.

"I felt that we made too many mistakes on both sides of the ball and against a very good football team like Occidental you can't do that and win," said Chapman head coach Bob Owens. "We missed tackles, gave up easy touchdowns, dropped some passes, and had two touchdowns taken off the board because of mistakes."

The Panthers' defense had a hard time stopping Occidental in the third quarter as the Tigers scored all four of their touchdowns in the period. Occidental (5-0) scored two touchdowns within three minutes to start the third quarter on a 28-yard run by sophomore RB Bryan Fiorito and a 24-yard run by senior QB Justin Goltz to take a 17-7 lead.

Chapman (3-2) answered as senior QB Eric Marty and junior WR Dan Delahoussaye hooked up for a 59-yard touchdown bringing the score to 17-14.

However, Occidental went to the air adding two more third quarter touchdowns pushing its lead to 31-14. Goltz took advantage of single coverage by the Panthers' defense to connect with junior WR Jason Lehman and junior WR Chris Washington for the touchdowns.

"Those two touchdowns were one-on-one situations that they got us locked in that they took advantage of through the air," Owens said.

Trailing 31-14 in the fourth quarter, Chapman scored 14 consecutive points when Marty and Delahoussaye connected on touchdowns to narrow Occidental's lead to 31-28. A last-ditch effort by the Panthers fell short when Tigers' senior DB Daniel Tromello intercepted Marty's final pass to end the game. Delahoussaye had touchdowns of 59, 32 and 27 yards on the night totaling a season-high 190 yards receiving for the game.

The second half was much different than the first, which was a defensive struggle between the two teams. Chapman led at halftime 7-3 behind the running of senior RB Mike Christensen who scored on a 20-yard first-quarter touchdown.

Both teams had fairly even offensive numbers with Occidental outgaining Chapman 466 to 417 but the Tigers were more methodical and efficient than the Panthers who relied on some big plays to move the ball. Chapman was just 3-for-12 in third-down efficiency against one of the top defenses in Division III.

Occidental's Goltz completed 24-of-28 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 101 yards rushing. Fiorito added a 103 yards rushing for the Tigers.